


Thank you for being my friend

by Arwen88



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Lingerie, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 10:45:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13680114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arwen88/pseuds/Arwen88
Summary: After much debating with himself Steve decided to wear the Ironette costume, to prove a point.Tony, though, sees right trough him to the reason Steve did so.





	Thank you for being my friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chiapslock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiapslock/gifts).



> Written for the Cow-T (fifth week, "thank you for being my friend") and the Maritombola (prompt 11 "People are strange" by Doors) of LDF.  
> Proofread by Yuppu because english is not my first language. The song referenced in the story is "People are strange".

After much debating with himself Steve decided to wear the Ironette costume, to prove a point.  
He had secretly enjoyed all his life the thought of wearing women’s lingerie, of how that pretty underwear could have clung to his body, but before the serum he was too poor to afford any form of it, or even to make it pass for a gift for some girl, and after he was too busy fighting a war to be able to convince himself that they weren't going to shoot him if he had tried to buy a piece of clothing. They were probably going to shoot him, and he knew that.  
After waking up in the twentieth century, Steve had found with amazement that people no longer cared that much about who went in what store to buy underwear, be it conceived for women or men. That had opened him many doors - together with the fact that often people would not recognize him since he had been given for dead for seventy years - and his dream came true as he managed to buy some lingerie and take it to the Tower, wearing it in the solitude of his room.  
He had never confessed his desires to anyone in his life, not even to Bucky, and he wasn't going to start right when he had just begun making new friends. But that meant also that he felt rather insecure about his whole kink with feminization. He had wanted the underwear and he was finally wearing it - sometimes even under his clothes while he was in public - but he had not intention to tell someone and risk being ridiculed for it.  
Although a part of him terribly desired to be able to put on some women’s dress and heels and have a chance to walk down the hall, he was set on not doing so. Until he came across a video on the internet where Iron Man had arrived on a stage where the "Ironettes" were dancing. He rolled his eyes, closing the tab, but suddenly he stilled, a plan slowly forming in his mind.

Steve thought that wearing a skimpy costume could have passed to anyone else as a funny and satirical way to prove to Tony that the way he had made those women dress was highly inappropriate. He mulled over the plan for long enough to be completely sure that everybody was going to laugh and he would have been able to pull off going around in heels as a joke to "prove the point" to his teammate that it was totally ridiculous once worn by a man and so it was obviously inappropriate when it was a woman the one wearing it. Even more so when it was only to appease a male ego. He didn't think for a moment to do some research and figure out that that was the same kind of costumes most dancers used to wear when cheering for sport teams all around the US. He didn't think about what Tony reaction could have been at facing what could have been a mistake in his judgment by Captain America himself.  
Steve watched himself in the mirror for a long while before stepping outside his room in heels for the first time in his life, masking the thrill he felt with a knowing smirk every time he passed someone else down the hallways. As he had expected his teammates were surprised but they easily believed the lie that it was only to prove a point to Tony and laughed along, not minding him for a second more. His pride for being so subtle lasted till he reached Tony's lab.

Tony was taking a break from his work and sipping from a tall glass of iced tea when Steve entered.  
The captain started with his well prepared speech, hands on his hips and feet well spread in an almost military stance, talking about proving to the genius that what he put through those dancers was not fair, that it would have been laughed off if he had asked some guys to put on the same outfit.  
Tony wasn't really interested in his words, a bit focused still on the changes to be made so the machinery would work better, and so he turned to him when Steve was well into his rant. He was about to say sorry and ask him to repeat when he saw what Steve was wearing and suddenly he choked on his tea, his eyes going wide as he raked his gaze up and down the muscular man standing half naked in his lab.  
Instead of actually starting to listen to him Tony just got to the point where he caught the sense of it - something about the Ironette dancers, costumes, being inappropriate - and after figuring out that Steve had no idea that he had actually taken the time to talk with the girls and see that they were on board, only caring about the pay and the health benefits Tony gave all his employees, he just disconnected from his ears. He focused on admiring the man in front of him, trying to understand what had really brought him all the way down to the labs wearing heels and that costume. It had to be more than that rant, for he could have made that speech even just wearing his usual clothes, and the path from Steve's room to the lab was so long that if he hadn't really wanted to wear heels he would have probably kicked them off half way through.  
There was a chance he had done all of it really to prove a point, carrying on the walk on heels, barely dressed, because of his stubbornness, but there was an even bigger chance that he had done so because he actually didn't find it that bad to wear heels. Still he wasn't sure if Steve liked to go half naked around or if he liked the costume, or wearing a bra. He reasoned that Steve came from a more puritan time, but he had showed no problem at how Natasha dressed up for her missions, or the spandex many other agents used at SHIELD. So why was he there ranting about Tony's ego and his need to show off? Yes, it was possible that Steve thought all of those things, but why go start a discussion with him when they hadn't even had an argument in weeks at that point? There was always the chance that Steve had just taken the first chance he had been able to find to go around wearing a bra and heels, selling it off as "making a point" so that nobody would question what Captain America wanted to do in his spare time. There was an easy way to find out though and Tony went right for it.  
"You should wear a lace bra." He interjected, relaxed, but looking at Steve to see his reaction.  
Steve came to a halt, dumbfounded. "What?" He murmured, feeling his face flush a bit.  
Tony was close to him, watching him, and he nodded, seemingly deciding on something. Steve started to panic: they were just friends, not even that close, and Steve was pretty sure there was no way to tell what he had been thinking before going to him dressed like that. Yet, even thought there seemed no way for Tony to know, the man was standing right in front of him, not a crack of a smile on his lips, not buying for even a second that all that could have been just to prove a point, to show him how silly the costume was. Instead Tony had seen right through him to what Steve wanted to do.  
"Lace bra and panties." Tony added in the shocked silence. "And stockings. Silk stockings maybe. I bet you would look amazing in it." He smiled.  
It was the sincere smile of someone who was convinced to be giving a nice compliment and Steve couldn't for a life of him find something wicked behind it.  
After a long moment Steve barely nodded as an answer, not knowing what to say that wouldn't have implied even more that he would have liked that. He still wasn't really sure if Tony was laughing at him or not, it didn't seem so, but Steve had never prepared in his whole life for a different scenario than getting ridiculed. He had expected someone to laugh, to crack a joke, to insult him, to turn his back on him. He had never prepared for a situation where he was being accepted and encouraged to pursue his secret fantasies.  
"Can I buy you something?" Tony offered, out of the blue.  
Steve, who was still deep in his thoughts, almost stopped breathing at the question, looking Tony as if he had gone crazy. But Stark merely raised one eyebrow, getting that expression of his of when things were taking too long to work out.  
"Yeah?" Steve asked in turn.  
He reasoned that if everything went south he could at least pretend not to have understood what Tony meant. At that, though, Tony nodded and turned his back on him, calmly going back to his work, figuring the conversation was over since Steve had barely tried to answer him.

Steve left the lab soon after that, without saying a word more. He was shaken by what had happened between him and Tony and not thinking anymore about how nice it felt to be openly walking outside his room in the outfit of his choice. He went back to his room in a hurry, needing the time and space to think and try to understand what had transpired down in the lab. He had so many questions and no answer it felt almost dizzying.  
It didn't look like Tony was interested in asking him out, or even worse asking him to have sex out of the blue, or either bluntly asking him to show himself while wearing lingerie. He kept trying to understand what motives Tony could have to offer buying him lingerie but he found no answer, until a couple days later a parcel arrived at the tower with his name on top.  
Steve hurried to take it to his own room to open it, not sure himself if he hoped it contained the lingerie Tony had promised him or if he would have preferred the man to completely forget about it. Inside the box there was the most beautiful set of panties, bra and stockings that he had ever seen, not to mention touched.  
He caressed the silk with the tip of his fingers, marveling at the softness and elegance of that lingerie, almost brought to tears by the finesse of the lace. It wasn't anything like those panties he had managed to buy at the big store downtown where he thought no one would have noticed him.  
He hurried to wear it, sighing at the sensation on his skin, and he delicately caressed it while admiring his figure on the mirror. It took him a while to stop just staring at himself in various angles, but he got dressed, putting his clothes over the new lingerie, thinking he had to go and thank Tony after receiving the package. Even if it was bound to be awkward, he thought.

Tony was in his lab as per usual and he threw a glance at Steve only when Jarvis alerted him of the captain coming in.  
"Hey." He nodded at Steve absently, before going back to his work, both his hands inside of what looked like a giant engine, smears of oil up to his wrists.  
"Thanks." Steve blurted out in way of greeting, a moment before wishing the floor would have opened up to swallow him whole.  
He should have greeted Tony in turn, he mentally berated himself. He was so ready for the man to crack some joke at his expenses, to ask if he was wearing what he had chosen for him, or maybe even pretend he didn't know what Steve was talking about so that he would have had to clearly spell the word lingerie out loud, that he was so tensed he had even forgot how to be polite.  
Instead Tony managed to surprise him once more by simply answering with a "you're welcome", not taking his eyes off his work.  
Steve stood there, disoriented by his behavior. There were so many things he wanted - needed at that point - to ask Tony, and yet it was too much for him to even chose what to begin with. When the silence stretched out and none of them said anything more, Steve started to feel like he was intruding in Tony's space and tried to tell himself he was about to go away to respect the man, instead of running away so not to ruin their friendship asking maybe too bluntly what Tony wanted from him.  
When Tony noticed from the corner of his eye that Steve was retreating he threw him another glance.  
"Would you like me to send you more? It's no problem, I assure you."  
Steve stopped and looked at him with clear surprise on his face, before narrowing his eyes a bit. "Why would you do that?" He finally asked, unable to hold back anymore. "Do you- want me to show you or what?"  
That managed to catch all of Tony's attention and the man grimaced, fully turning towards him.  
"Sorry, what? Why would I do such a thing? I would never send you a present only to ask for something back like I was just- paying for you to perform some sexual favor." He shook his head, incredulous, and Steve felt his face get flushed at that. "It was a gift, Steve. I'm not asking for anything back. You're my friend and I have enough money to gift my friends something nice, so why don't do it?" He shrugged. "I've finally managed to find something you would have liked to receive and I thought that maybe you might have had some problems going in person in the stores to buy it yourself. Since the whole city knows our faces by now and all that. But I've bought so much lingerie during the years as gifts for people that no one even bats an eye anymore when I send out a request. So it's really no problem to me to buy you some lingerie. That's why I offered to do it. I just wanted to use my money for a friend, to know you were happy." He explained, scratching his forehead with black fingers that left a smear.  
Staring at that made it a bit easier for Steve to keep facing the man, instead of looking in his eyes as the truth sunk in. He nodded, ashamed of himself for having assumed his teammate would have had an angle when Tony had never been that kind of person up to Steve's knowledge and experience.  
"I'm sorry. I loved it, really." He admitted.  
Tony smiled, relaxing. "Can I buy you something more then? Or would you prefer me to just stop and not mention it ever again?" He asked, looking at him in the eyes as he made sure he wasn't crossing some boundaries between them.  
Steve shrugged one shoulder, awkwardly sitting on the armrest of the beaten up couch Tony kept in his lab - Steve thought it was very much possible that the genius spent even the nights in that place - as he tried to find something more to say without putting a foot in his mouth.  
"You don't have to."  
"Well, no one ever has to make a gift." Tony scoffed. "Yet sometimes gifts are appreciated." That time when he smiled Steve joined in, starting to relax in his company.  
"Well, this one was appreciated. And, as much as it is a bit awkward to know a friend is giving me lingerie, another one would be nice. You're right at thinking that I don't often manage to buy that kind of underwear personally in stores. I was thinking about purchasing them from the internet, but then I was kind of scared of someone finding out anyway." He admitted.  
"Tell Jarvis to cover the traces of your purchases when you do, he will take care of it. No one can hacker my baby." He smiled with pride, finally going back to his work as if the matter was settled and he hadn't just done something huge for Steve, bigger than giving him an expensive set of lingerie.  
He had validated Steve in something he himself had been rather unsure about, for the nature of it and for not having anyone to open up with on the subject. There had never been anyone there to tell him that what he wanted was fine and quite normal, no one to tell him that he had no reason to feel ashamed and hide. Until Tony had just smiled and treated him and his tastes as if they were natural and appropriate.  
"It just seemed strange." He murmured, noticing after a moment that his words sounded like a non sequitur. "I reacted like I did just a moment ago because it seemed quite strange to me that you wouldn't- I don't know. Laugh at me, I suppose." He admitted.  
Tony threw a quick glance at him, keeping up with the work.  
"People are strange, you're not stranger than I am, or than most people are. Beware who says they are normal. And, as the Doors said, people are strange when you're a stranger."  
Tony wasn't really sure if Steve knew the song he was referring to, but Steve caught the sense behind the words anyway and nodded. Suddenly Steve thought that he would have genuinely liked to get to know Tony more, to the point where his behavior ceased to just dumbfound him and they could understand more of each other, maybe call themselves friends rather than just teammates.  
He cleared his throats, pointing at the engine Tony was working on. "What are you doing there?" He asked, deciding that if Tony was going to be a good friend of him, he was due to start getting interested in what he liked to do. And maybe the smile Tony gave him for showing interest was a plus.


End file.
